Which City Has the Edge?

When it comes to comparing Philadelphia with New York, Philadelphia often gets the short end of the stick. However, when it comes to the important things in life, Philadelphia does more than holds it own when pitted up to the self-proclaimed “Capital of the Free World.” We are, after all, the nation’s first capital.

Historical Landmarks: Liberty Bell vs. Statue of Liberty

Between the two cities, there are no shortages of famous landmarks. There are two that come to mind almost instantly.

New York has the Statue of Liberty. First dedicated by France to symbolize the friendship forged during the Revolutionary War, Lady Liberty still proudly stands in New York Harbor. Standing a whopping 305 ft. tall, this jolly green giant is visited by over 3 million people per year. It loses points for its geographical location, which is technically New Jersey (much like their football teams).

The Liberty Bell is a symbol of freedom in this country. Located in the heart of Center City, it is the heart of Philadelphia. One could also claim it to be the Heart of Independence. Its most famous ringing came on July 8th, 1776 as a signal to Philadelphians and Americans that independence had been declared. Weighing in at a hefty 2,055 lbs. this heavy-weight is also visited by over 3 million persons per year. It gains points for seniority in American history. New York loses a few more points for being a colony full of loyalists who until the very last moment succumbed to the pressure of the other colonies.

Edge: Philadelphia

Food: Cheesesteaks vs. Pizza

You can find Philadelphia’s signature dish in many places across the country, but seldom is this delicatesy good outside of the tri-state area (PA, NJ, Northern DE). Cheese Wiz, wit or witout juicy beef grilled to heavenly perfection, a true Philadelphian knows, it’s the roll that makes the sandwich. (My personal preference is Amoroso’s roll with provolone cheese) Perhaps it’s the limited accessibility to good bread that limits other spots across the U.S. from producing a cheesesteak worthy of a Philadelphian tongue.

Everyone knows that New York is known for their Manhattan or Neapolitan style pizza. Sure, it’s good, I cannot lie, however, is it better than say Chicago-style deep-dish? Are the pizzas you find in New York leaps and bounds better than that of what you find at your favorite Ma and Pop pizza joint in your neighborhood? Better maybe, but only slightly. Add in the accessibility of good pizza across the nation and New York-Style Pizza just doesn’t stand out from the pack like a good cheesesteak does.

Edge: Philadelphia

Traffic: Cross- Bronx vs. The Schuylkill

I have been stuck in traffic numerous times on both roadways. Each time I subject myself to the punishment doled out by either gauntlet, I feel as if I lose two years off my life. It doesn’t matter if it’s midnight, on Christmas, in a blizzard, the day after nuclear annihilation, you are sure to find a jam up, no matter which highway you find yourself on. Both Philadelphians and New Yorkers can lament when struggling to deal with these two behemoths.

Edge: Push

Fans: Yankees vs. Phillies

In Philadelphia, if you’re a fan, you are a PHAN. Your reputation proceeds you. You are feared by the nation yet revered by your brethren. Forget Santa, you have thrown snowballs at Cowboys head-coach Jimmy Johnson and ruffled his finely coiffed hairdo. You have ruined the careers of both Matt Garza and Eva, er Evan Longoria because you refused to let them get comfortable on the biggest stage of their careers. You are not passive about your sports teams, you are passionate. Whether or not you have a good day depends on how well your team performed the night before. Baseball for you is not an institution, it’s life. To root for a winner is easy, but to root for a team that has over ten-thousand losses takes a special person – a loyal person. You are that person.

To be a Yankees fan is trying. Geez, your team hasn’t won since the turn of the century(2000). Fuhgedaboutit, Yankee fans don’t hold a candle to a Phillies fan because you don’t have the experience of pain and loss of Joe Carter and 1964. I won’t be the one to call you front-runners because you really have no other choice (well you could be a Mets fan… I know, I’m laughing too). You may well be passionate, but you have no clue as to what devotion is because you never had to suffer through bad, and I mean really bad times. (Except losing that Boston series, yeah, that was pretty rough.)

Edge: Philadelphia

So there you have it, Philadelphia is clearly better than New York both inside and outside the baseball stadium.

86 Comments

I love Philly, but the Statue of Liberty beats the Liberty Bell. The Cheesesteak is head and shoulders better than NY Pizza, Traffic is a push, and to be fair, the fans are a push as well. The difference is that we have had to endure to be Phillies fans, they haven’t endured anything but 26 world championships.

Gavin,
Please explain to me how a French present trumps the sign of national liberty? The woman in green, an obvious attempt to mimic the fanatic in all of his awesomeness.
A giant, french, green statue or a bell that was rung to signal our independence as a free nation? Definitely the bell.

This is blatant homerism, and I dont mind at all. Though I would say, with Ellis Island and the like, NY is pretty historic too.

NY traffic is MUCH worse. That many cars were not supposed to be jammed in such a small space, but that’s what happened. Add to that, it’s an island. So there are only a handful of ways on to it. A few crappy tunnels and small bridges. I would rather drive on 76 any day than the NJ TPK or through Manhattan.

Great points made with the fans argument. They don’t know what suffering is and never will and our fans will still come out in full force. They may have thier tradition and 26 rings but we have the passion and love for this team.

Remember, they have 26 reasons to love the Yankees. Phillies fans have 10,000.

Pedro in game 2??? That’s a mistake. Pedro gets the game 2 start based on one start against the Dodgers at spacious Dodger Stadium. Wow. LHP fare much better than RHP at Yankee stadium with that short right field porch.

I’m from Jersey and i’ve had hundreds of cheesesteaks in Jersey at just about every place imaginable. When I first trecked down to philly I was excited for their vaunted cheeseteak. To my surprise it tasted EXACTLY the same as any other cheeseteak i’ve ever had. I came to the realization it’s just NOT that hard to make a cheesesteak. I’ve talked to many others who share the same opinion, it’s just not worth going to philly for their damn cheeseteak. On the other hand have you ever tried a pizza from DiFara in NY. It’s to die for. Just saying.

I think the point is that it is homerism… I thought that it was funny.

Is it Wednesday yet?

Cha’lie is going with his gut… I think that this benefits us in a couple of ways: Hamels gets a little extra rest and Hamels will be the starter for Game 7, if need be. Frankly, you don’t know what you’re gonna get with either of those guys. I think that Cha’lie has to go with the rotation that is going to give him the best opportunity to steal at least one of the games that Pedro/Hamels pitches… Pedro in NY might not sound great but he went into LA and pitched awesome. Regardless, Hamels at home sounds much better than Hamels in NY at this point. Of those two pitchers, Hamels has the most to gain from pitching at home… Pedro is a wild card no matter where he pitches. Hamels at home is much better than Hamels on the road (7-5 home record with a 3.76 ERA versus 3-6 on the road with a 4.99 ERA).

What’s this whole big deal about Eva? Is that supposed to be funny? It seems Phillies fan are so proud of themselves for calling Evan, Eva. You guys are such a clever bunch, no one ever made that association before. And i’m sure that’s exactly what rattled him. The fact is, I didn’t watch the world series last year. NOBODY watched the world series last year except philly. So great job guys, nobody knows you’re there. Nobody CARES about Philly

Why would anyone want Hamels pitching a game 7? I’d rather throw Lee out there on 1 day’s rest than Hamels at this point.

But again guys, Manuel seems to be the goose with the golden egg. He makes decisions that a lot of us think are just nuts but somehow he seems to get it done. Have Phaith Phillies Phans. Charlie’s got this.

You can find a decent cheesesteak throughout the tri-state area… New Jerseyians and Delawarians have figured it out… but outside of this area, you’re likely getting a hunk of tenderloin with a slab of cheddar on a kaiser.

NY pizza is really good… but for this guy, it doesn’t get any better than a philly cheesesteak.

Hideki Matsui is left-handed and will be the DH in games 1 and 2. He can’t play the field so he will be on the bench in Philly. Yet another reason Chollie should start a lefty in Game 2. This decision sucks.

Fans is not a push. Trust me. I live in NY and I know how terrible their fans are. A majority of them are band wagoners. and a majority of them are violent. My family, die hard, absolutely die hard yankee fans went to a game and said they were embarrassed, absolutely embarrassed to be a yankee fan because of the way the fans acted and treated the other teams fans. so whoever commented and said fans are a push, completely false.

I live in SC. We were up in Philly this summer and my wife (who is from South Carolina) gets to the counter and ordered a “Philly Cheese Steak.” The guy laughed and said, up here we just call them “cheesesteaks”…….

Griffin, maybe you haven’t noticed but Matsui for his career hits better vs lefties than righties. So starting starting a lefty in game 2 solely because of Matsui being the DH is not only ridiculous but not supported by any numbers you are going to find.

Furthermore, Matsui absolutely raped left handed pitching this year and with that short porch in NY, and Hamels propensity for giving up the long ball, I don’t blame Charlie for not starting him in game 2. Matsui had 2 less homers and 2 more RBI vs lefties than righties this year in almost 200 less at bats. Ponder that for a second.

The only argument for starting Hamels over Pedro that I can see is that both pitchers pitch significantly better at home than on the road but Pedro is down right awful on the road.

pedro is a big game pitcher. he will pitch fine. he will handle the yankee fans and will want to silence them. anyoe forget we are facing burnett, who is also a righty, who we should have no problem hitting him. we will be fine. pedro will be fine.

I am glad you folks took this post as it was intended, it is funny and well writen. I live in Vermont and the guy who said cheesesteaks are the same everywhere must have never left the tri state area. The only thing close to a good cheesesteak up here is a shop owned by two guys from Phila. Still not the same, because you got it right it is in the bread, and the melted cheese.
Saying that the real thing NY pizza is hard to find also, you really have to look for it, but you can find it.
The first time my Dad told me to order a cheese steak when visiting his mother in Vermont, I got a steak grilled with cheese on top open faced style on white bread. My dad knew it and thought it was funny.

The Philly cheesesteak is about the bread first, without the good bread it’s screwed anyway!

I think we are at the point where Charlie gets the benefit of the doubt with this rotation. Lets see how this plays out before some people are ripping it to shreds.

I will also reword what I meant by “shutdown” pitcher yesterday. I think Hamels has that change up that can make teams look silly, Lee has his array of 5-6 pitches. CC has nasty stuff. I was talking more in terms of the matchup of the Yankees starters against the Phillies. The Phillies usually hit hard throwing righties pretty hard and Petitte’s stuff is good and he’s a big game pitcher. I just dont see those 2 having the ability of shutting the Phillies out for 6, 7 or 8 innings, like CC could. They are great pitchers.

My key is and will be Cole Hamels returning to form. I like Pedro going in game 2 because this would most likely set up a start for Lee/Hamels in games 6 and 7. Those are the 2 that will win us another title pitching in the biggest games.

Gotta have faith in Cole, because we need him. We know what he is capable of and we need it from him.

Ed R., I didn’t know Matsui’s splits this season, but I still think Hamels should be gettting the game 2 nod.

Prepare yourself for tons of “Who’s your daddy?” chants.

Also, it’s pouring here in NYC and they may not play tomorrow’s game. If they play game 1 on Thursday and move Game 2 to the off day on Friday, then CC and Lee can not pitch 3 games in this series. This means the Yanks would have to start Chad Gaudin once and the Phils would have to start Blanton or Happ. This would help the Phils.

I really think Pedro is the type of guy who can thrive when Yankees fans start chanting “Who’s your daddy”… and if he succeeds he would come right back in the press conference and say “So you’re still my daddy?” and then crack up.

I welcome the Who’s your daddy chants, and so will Pedro. And hopefully he pitches a gem and can walk off the mound smiling then as he makes his way to the dugout he rips open his jersey and he has a shirt on that says “I’m your daddy.”

Oh how awesome that would be.

I think Pedro could dominate the Yankees, win two starts and be the LCS MVP, and I can also see him getting rocked in one start. Trust in Charlie. In case you haven’t noticed. He wrote the Manuel on Winning…get it…Manuel on winning…I am so pathetic.

I get the feeling that everyone is just really happy and excited to have a World Series that the National Media can buy into… Phils/Yanks… Broadway vs. Broad Street (stole that from someones)… Defending WFC’s versus the winningest franchise in all of sports… grit versus green…. it’s awesome and I welcome baseball connossieur’s from all fan bases on here throughout this series.

I trust Hamels to outduel Pettitte in game 3 at home on extra rest… I would not trust him in game 2 in NY. His home/road splits are convincing.

Pedro is going to try his best and if he’s on it doesn’t matter whether he’s at home or on the road…

Don’t pay any attention to the New York Post. It’s a tabloid, not a newspaper. It’s the butt of many jokes in New York for it’s 4th grade reading level.

I remember in 2004 they did a whole thing about how Boston sucked and how Johnny Damon was a caveman. It was pretty insulting. As soon as Damon signed with the Yankees, they sent a photographer to document Damon getting a haircut. This is the type of hard-hitting journalism you find in a grade school periodical.

“Philly fans are a bunch of whiners and should learn how to dress. They should try reading GQ.”

We should try reading GQ… I didn’t realize that reading GQ was that important. Forget about humility, eh? Image is everything in NY and it is the only place in the world where commercialism trumps everything. If you’re from NY and your family is from NY then you probably find this piece offensive… I can’t imagine that real New Yorkers subscribe to this crap.

Lol you just give the edge to Philadelphia on every single one. Homer. Go ask anyone outside of both cities this question, and it’s honestly not even close. New York is an iconic place that people strive their whole lives to see even once. Some people don’t know whether Philadelphia is a city or a state, what state it’s in, etc. Philadelphia is more like Atlanta, Milwaukee, etc., second-rate American Cities. New York is in the class of Hong Kong, London, etc., the world’s greatest cities.

I don’t read the post but it was drawn to my attention by a (Yankee) friend. Yeah the remainder of that was really stupid anyway. I really think that someone who says “we should read GQ” and has to point it out doesn’t actually follow that advice

I agree with whoever said it…Pedro can absolutely embrace “Who’s your Daddy”… I trust Charlie’s decision with this. If he gets lit up I guess we all can second-guess him and ask why he didn’t pitch Cole in Game 2…..bit there’s good reason why we’re nervous about that scenario.

Pete Rose on 97.5 The Fanatic this morning agrees with Cole pitching Game 3….he basically says there is no difference whether it’s Game 2 or Game 3…he still has to pitch in a game.

I have a feeling that Game 2 might be high scoring, with the Phils getting to Burnet.If we can get 5-6 effective innings from Pedro, we have an excellent chance.

3. I like the Hamels – Petitie match up.

But Petite scares me — probably the most of anyone on the Yanks staff. CC is a stud, but I know the Phils can get to him.

Petite, though, is exactly the type of pitcher we usually struggle against — soft-throwing lefty with good control who doesn’t walk people, doesn’t get rattled and doesn’t make many mistakes. The Phils are a fastball- and mistake-hitting team, and Petite won’t give us many of either.

Cole might get rocked, but he also might throw 8 shutout innings. And we’ll need that against Petite. That could very well be a pitcher’s duel.

Speaking of Darren Daulton…He has been pretty normal on Comcast.After all the time travel and living in other beings stuff,I expected some craziness out of him.
Anyway,here in NE Pa,where EVERYONE is either a Phil or Yank fan,this is a dream come true.I have been waiting for this my whole life!
Go Phils!

Pettitte is the most difficult match up for us, for sure… the keys to winning against Pettitte: 1. he can’t get the outside corner strikes against right handers; our lefties are going to struggle against him but he is forced to come inside against righties, we’ll be able to put up some runs… 2. we have to be patient and make him throw strikes… he’ll burn breaking balls in the dirt all day if guys are swinging at them. 3. No mental errors (don’t get caught with your pants down on second or third base)… take what you can get and bleed out 3 or 4 runs. Put the pressure on him to be perfect.

Philly Cheesesteaks are the best cheesesteaks in the world. The best pizza in the world is in Italy followed by Switzerland. New York isn’t in the same ballpark as real Italian pizza.

The Liberty Bell is the symbol of Liberty and is proud to live in the heart of Philadelphia. The Statue of Liberty is closer to New Jersey because she was too embarrassed to be seen so close to New York.

Is there really an arguement as to who has the better fans? Phillie fans stuck through their team through 10,000 losses while Yankee fans seem to come back and watch the team only when they win after paying billions of dollars on the team.

The cheesesteaks are pretty good on Mars but nowhere near as good as the cheesesteaks Lenny and I ate when we traveled back in time to watch the 1919 World Series. Lenny bet on the White Sox. I guess that is why is he broke.

Philly is great town, terribly underrated. The setting for the funniest sitcom of all time, “always sunny”, and the home to one of the better non-topless dance joints in the northeast, Cheerleaders. But the ONLY thing Philly has going for it over NYC is the higher murder rate, and the lack of mouth-breathing Yankee fans. Go Phils!!!

LOL Philly fans ru kidding me majority are 700 level clueless morons who take pride in acting like idiots every chance they get. Yelling asshole at Pats fans at the superbowl yrs ago that was good. Half the people in Philly and PA in general walk around dressed like they should be going to a Nascar race. Boston blows Philly away as a city and NY is way above Boston enough said.